Dexter cross

[Ian H]

Hi all
How can you tell a dexter x from a purebred? One of my short heifers is a cross although side by side with a pure physically no difference can be seen, except the horn colour on the pure heifers cream horns black tips and the cross solid grey coloured horns. What do you think?
Regards Ian Hornsby

[Sylvia]

How can you tell? With extreme difficulty. I have a Dexter x Shorthorn and a Dexter x Welsh Black in my herd. I'm not a betting person but if I was I'd stick them in a line up and see how many people could pick them out. I'd be very impressed if anybody could pick out just one of them.

[Woodmagic]

Appearance is a very small part of inheritance; in the case of the short leg, the dwarfing gene itself largely controls its looks. Where the colour is black, this is a dominant and may hide a variety of colours carried in the recessive. The major thousands of genes are concerned with all the things in which the Dexter excels, but are not demonstrated in appearance Survivability, milking propensity, temperament most of what makes up a Dexter are not visual qualities. The few things that the eye can identify, can only be seen in the dominant form, and may well hide unwanted recessives that will surface in the next generation. A pedigree animal should breed true.

[Kathy Millar]

Well, I have to admit that I have trouble with the Dexter and the Lowline.

[Inger]

The genes of some bulls are so dominant that even in the second generation, the calves can look like a purebred. Although, when first born, the closer the calf is to being purebred, the blacker and glossier its coat.